Shapr3D's user interface 101 – Shapr3D Help Desk

This is your guide to Shapr3D’s design user interface.

When you open a design, you’ll see five different areas:

Top bar
Orientation cube
Menu
Items
Control bar

1. Top bar

Icon	Name	Description
	Designs	Brings you to the Designs screen, where all your designs are stored. If you need to delete, duplicate, create, or import designs, you can do so from this screen.
	Education	Shows you a list of educational content: In-app introductory videos to modeling, tutorials, webinars, cheat sheet of gestures, Manual, and Shapr3D Forums. You can chat with our support agent; if you’re a Pro user, then you can also email our agent.
	Import	Offers you a list of file formats you can import: STEP, X_T, IGES, STL, SHAPR, SLDPRT, SLDASM, 2D DWG, or 2D DXF. You can also import images from your Files or Photos app or take a photo and immediately import that into Shapr3D. For more details, refer to our articles about imports.
	Share	Opens the Export window, where you can save your design in various formats to use with other software, machines, and printers. For more details, refer to our articles about imports.

2. Orientation cube

Icon	Name	Description
	Units	The place to set your desired unit, and customize specific format settings with inches and degrees. Find out more in this article.
	Views/Appearance	This button opens: Views Reset your view or select a predefined one. Appearance Change to orthographic or perspective view, and make your shapes transparent so you can see and select hidden edges. You can also make it possible to rotate your design using two fingers.
	Orientation Cube	Changes the view orientation of your design. Tap one side of the cube to switch views. Tap Top for example, to switch to a top view. To revert to a default orientation, tap the Orientation Cube twice.

3. Control bar

Icon	Name	Description
	Settings	Opens the Settings screen. Here, you can log in or out; manage your subscription, notifications, and data settings; and select your preferred language, pencil pressure, spline point type, etc. Not only that, but you can also find the app version, terms of use, and privacy policy.
	Snaps / Guidelines	Opens a popover where you can turn on or off snapping to grid and guides, and enable displays of midpoints, center of face of sketch, and snapping hint. For more details, read this article.
	Section View	Hides everything in front of the current grid so you can view a section of your design. This article details this view.

4. Menu

Icon	Name	Description
	Sketch	Opens a menu with all 2D tools and constraints.
	Add	Opens a menu where you can add construction geometry (axis or plane), images, or files to your design.
	Transform	Opens a menu with the following tools: Move/Rotate, Scale, Translate, Rotate Around Axis, and Mirror.
	Tools	Opens a menu with powerful modeling tools you can use to create and modify bodies: Boolean commands (Union, Intersect, Subtract), Loft, Shell, etc.

5. Tools

Icon	Name	Description
	Extrude	Creates extruded bodies from planar faces or closed sketches. You can read about the tool here.
	Shell	Hollows out or creates bodies with a specified wall thickness. You can read about the tool here.
	Loft	Connects the profiles of two or more faces or closed sketches on different planes. You can read about the tool here.
	Union	Fuses two intersecting bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Subtract	Subtracts the common parts of one or more bodies from another (intersecting) body. You can read about the tool here.
	Intersect	Keeps only the common parts of two or more bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Revolve	Creates bodies from closed sketches by revolving them around an axis. You can also set a height to create helical bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Sweep	Creates a body by dragging the profile of a face or closed sketch along spines. You can read about the tool here.
	Replace Face	Replaces a face of a body with another face. You can read about the tool here.
	Project	Translates your sketches, edges, faces, and bodies to another face, either as sketches or edges. You can read about the tool here.
	Offset	Creates a parallel sketch line, curve, or loop of an existing sketch or edge. You can read about the tool here.
	Color	Adds color to faces and bodies. You can read about the tool here.

6. Add

Icon	Name	Description
	Construction Axis	Adds construction axes to your workspace to help your modeling process. You can read about this option here.
	Construction Plane	Adds construction planes that will help you position your sketches and bodies. You can read about this option here.
	Image	Adds a photo so you can use it as a reference for sketching.
	File	Offers you a list of file formats you can import: STEP, X_T, IGES, STL, SHAPR, 2D DWG, or 2D DXF. You can also import images from your Files or Photos app or take a photo and immediately import that into Shapr3D. For more details, refer to our articles about imports.

7. Transform

Icon	Name	Description
	Move/Rotate	Moves or rotates your sketches and bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Scale	Scales your geometry. You can read about the tool here.
	Translate	Moves your shapes precisely from one specific point to another. You can read about the tool here.
	Rotate Around Axis	Rotates your shapes around an axis. You can read about the tool here.
	Align	Aligns 3D bodies. You can read about the tool here.
	Mirror	Mirrors your sketches and bodies. You can read about the tool here.

8. Sketch

Icon	Name	Description
	Close	Closes the Sketch menu.
	Line/Arc	Creates a line or arc, depending on the type you select. If you set the line type to “Automatic” and wiggle your Apple Pencil while drawing a line, the line automatically becomes an arc.
	Spline	Creates a spline. You can start drawing with your Apple Pencil and create spline points to guide the curves. For more details, read this article.
	Rectangles	Creates a rectangle. You can create the shape using one of three methods: “Center,” “Diagonal,” and “Three Points.” For more details, read this article.
	Circle	Creates a circle. You can adjust the size of the circle by specifying the radius. For more details, read this article.
	Ellipse	Creates an ellipse. You can adjust the size of the ellipse by specifying the vertical and horizontal radii. For more details, read this article.
	Polygons	Creates polygons: triangle, pentagon, hexagon, or octagon. You can change the number of sides and adjust the polygon’s size. For more details, read this article.
	Offset	Creates a parallel sketch line, curve, or loop of an existing sketch or edge. You can read about the tool here.
	Trim	Trims your sketches at intersections. For more details, read this article.
	Delete	Deletes the selected sketches or entire bodies.

9. Constraints

Icon	Name	Description
	Auto-Constraint	If you turn on this switch, that means your sketches will automatically be defined as much as possible. For example, if you draw a line and then connect it to an arc, the Tangent constraint is automatically applied.
	Show Constraints	If you turn on this switch, you can see the badges for each applied constraint directly on your sketch.
	Parallel	Makes two or more lines parallel to each other.
	Perpendicular	Makes two lines perpendicular.
	Tangent	Adjusts sketches so they are tangent to each other.
	Concentric	Adjusts multiple circles, arcs, or circular edges so they share the same center point.
	Horizontal /Vertical	Fixes your lines so they are parallel to the axes of the sketch plane.
	Equal	Makes your lines the same length, and your circles and arc share the same radius.
	Symmetry	Makes your sketches symmetric to a line or linear edge.
	Disconnect	Disconnects one or more sketch points.
	Lock	Fixes the position of your sketch points.

10. Items

Icon	Name	Description
	Items	A panel that organizes your bodies, sketches, planes, axes, and images as items. You can rename, search, zoom, and delete your items.
	Pin	Docks the Items manager to the screen. Tap to undock it.
	Folder	Creates a new folder.
	Bodies	Shows that the item is a body.
	Planes and Axes	Shows that the item is either a plane or an axis.
	Images	Shows that the item is an image.
	Visibility	You can tap this to display or hide the selected items in your design.
	Zoom to	You can zoom into the selected item.
	Rename	You can rename the associated item.
	Delete	You can delete the selected item.